Non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus for a vending machine



Jan. 17, 1967 wElTZMAN 3,298,569

NON-JAMMING AGI-TATING AND DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR A VENDING MACHINE ,Filed March 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Aloe/VAN 5. My 7-2444 Jan. 1 7, 1967 N. G. WEITZMAN 3,298,569

NON-JAMMING AGITATING AND DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR A VENDING MACHINE Filed March 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG] 67 FIG. 8

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United States Patent 3,298,569 NON-JAMMING AGITATING AND DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR A VENDING MACHINE Norman G. Weitzman, Arnold Provisor, 16401 Knapp Ave., Sepulveda, Calif. 91343 Filed Mar. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 441,669 7 7 Claims. (Cl. 221-203) Generally speaking, the present invention relates to the vendingmachine art andgmore particularly, to such a vending machine having a non-jamming agitator and dispenser apparatus therein for'very efficiently agitating and dispensing articles in a manner which effectively feeds same in a desired dispensing relationship with respect to the dispensing chute, or functional equivalent, of the vending machine and does so in a manner which virtually completely prevents any jamming of the articles which are to be so dispensed, as has frequently occurred in prior art vending machines employing agitating dispensers of one type or another.

A short discussion'of the necessity of such an agitating dispenser in a vending machine may be in order at this point and follows in a very brief form.

' The first point to be noted in connection with the above is that, in the event that a merchandise or article receptacle at the top of a vending machine carries a plurality of spherical articles of merchandise to be dispensed, they effectively interact with each other in a manner which may be said to exhibit a minimal effective friction, or the functional equivalent of viscosity in a fluid, and, therefore, it will befound that, under the action of gravity,

such articles will feed downwardly toward the dispensing apparatus of a vending machine fair ly readily and, in certain'cases, may not require any agitationatallinorder to facilitate the article feeding action which occurs as a result of gravity.

However, in certain cases, it may be found that even such spherical articles of merchandise may become somewhat jammed so that the effect of gravity acting thereon does not provide an adequate feeding action thereof to the dispensing chute of the vending machine, and, when this occurs, it is usually necessary to provide some sort of agitator for breaking up the assembly of such jammed articles and causi to properly feed to the dispensing chute of the vending h'i ne.

Certainly, when 'tlieart-icles of merchandise to be dispensed are not of the above-mentioned optimum spherical shape, but are of other non-round shapes, such as the conventional parallelepiped shape of packaged bubble gum or the like, it is completely apparent that large quantities of such articles carried within a merchandise receptacle of a vending machine will very readily jam, and it is also further apparent that the action of gravity alone thereon certainly cannot be relied upon for proper feeding of the articles to the underlying dispensing chute of the vending machine Therefore, when the vending machine is to dispense such non-round articles of merchandise, it becomes extremely important to provide an effective agitating means within the lower portion of the merchandise receptacle for at all times providing an effective downward feed ofthe merchandise articles to the dispensing chute of the vending machine. Because of this situation, such agitating and/or dispensing means for vending machines have been invented and developedheretofore.

However, it has been found that where such non-round articles are to be dispensed, there is a great likelihood that the agitator intended to provide an appropriate gravity fed of such articles to the dispensing chute of the vending machine may actually force one or more of said non-round articles into 'an effectively jammed relationship which, not only may prevent any further article-feeding action of the vending machinebut which may actually jam the agitator and prevent any further operation thereof, thus requiring the disassembly of the vending machine in order to gain access to the interior thereof for unjamming the agitator means before it can again provide an effective agitating and dispensing action of the non-round merchandise articles.

The present invention was invented and developed to completely meet and overcome the above-mentioned prior art difficulties, and it does so substantially completely since it provides such an agitating means for facilitating the gravity feeding dispensing action of merchandise articles of virtually any shape to the dispensing portions and/ or chute of a vending machine and does so in a manner which virtually completely precludes and prevents the possibility of any such jamming of the articles to be dispensed and/or of the agitating apparatus of the present invention from occurring.

Furthermore, it sould be noted that the novel apparatus of the present invention provides an arrangement such that conventional spherical or ball type merchandise can be very effectively dispensed in a conventional way and yet very oddly shaped articles of merchandise can also be very readily dispensed by the same vending machine, thus, in effect, providing a universally adapt-able vending machine capable of effectively vending a great variety of different types, sizes, and/or shapes of articles.

With the above points in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel non-jamming agitator means for a vending machine, which effectively feeds articles of merchandise from a merchandise receptacle toward a merchandise dispensing means in a manner such as to dispense a desired amount of merchandise (usually one article at a time) for each dispensing operation and in a manner which virtually completely prevents any likelihood of jamming of the agitating means and/or merchandise articles.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a non-jamming agitating means of the character referred to above, which acts to effectively feed and prestack articles of merchandise in predispensing relationship for subsequent individual dispensing action of the lowermost one of said prestacked articles when moved over an underlying dispensing aperture.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus of the character referred to above, in combination with a vending machine whereby to comprise a complete combination apparatus, and also to provide such a non-jamming agitator means, per se, for cooperation with the remaining portions of such a non-specifically included vending machinein other words, to cover the non-jamming agitator apparatus and associated elements, per se, as a subcombination of the complete combination form of the invention referred to above.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus having any or all of the advantages and features referred to herein, generically and/ or specifically, and individually or in combination, and which is of relatively simple, inexpensive construction adapted for ready mass manufacture at relatively low cost whereby to be conducive to widespread use thereof.

Further objects are implicit in the detailed description which follows hereinafter (which is to be considered as exemplary of, but not specifically limiting, the present invention), and said objects will be apparent to persons skilled in the art after a careful study of the detailed description which follows hereinafter.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention, one exemplary embodiment thereof is illustrated on the accompanying two sheets of'drawings and is described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a reduced-size, three-dimensional view of one exemplary type of vending machine incorporating therein the novel non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a larger scale three-dimensional view of the upper portion of the novel non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus of the present invention which is carried at the bottom of the merchandise receptacle of FIG. 1 and immediately above the lower mechanism housing portion of the vending machine. In other words, the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 comprises what might be called the non-jamming merchandise agitator and collector portion of the complete rotary structure of the non-jamming agitating and-dispensing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional view similar to FIG. 2, but shows the lower (rather than the upper) portion of the non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus of the present invention which is carried at the bottom of the merchandise receptacle of FIG. 1 and which is fastened to, and rotates with, the upper portion thereof, which is shown separately in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view, taken substantially on the plane indicated by the arrows 44 of FIG. 1 immediately above the lower inwardly directed edge portion of the merchandise receptacle and with the top surface only of the underlying lower mechanism housing part of the vending machine being visible through the transparent lower edge portion of the merchandise receptacle. Additionally, this view effectively comprises a top plan view of the non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus of the present invention.

, FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, partially broken away, sectional view, taken substantially on the plane indicated by the arrows 55 of FIG. 4 However, certain elements lying on said plane are shown partly in elevation and partly in section rather than in full section.

FIG. 6 is an even larger scale bottom plan view, taken substantially on the plane indicated by the arrows 6-6 of FIG. 5 and shows part of the overlying portions of the apparatus in cross section and shows part of the overlying portions of the apparatus above the plane'of said section 6-6 in full bottom plane view elevation rather than in cross section. I

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but comprises an operational view showing the non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus of FIG. 4 in an initial relationship with respect to a small number of articles of merchandisc to be dispensend and which, it is understood, were carried in plural form thereabove in the merchandise receptacle most clearly shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view, taken substantially along a plane such as that indicated by the arrows %S of FIG. 7 and illustrates the fact that a single articles of non-round merchandise (actually, of parallelepiped shape) has already been collected and stacked by the agitating and dispensing apparatus, and, further, shows in phantom another such merchandise article in the act of being collected and stacked above said first-mentioned merchandise article.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary view, taken substantially along a plane indicated by the arrows 9-9 of FIG. 7, and illustrates the fact that, as the agitating, collecting, mixing, and dispensing apparatus rotates in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 7, toward a front dispensing position, which is actually located at the bottom edge of FIG. 7, the prestacking of the merchandise articles proceeds from the showing of FIG. 8 to the showing of FIG. 9, wherein two such merchandise articles are shown prestacked in the rear portion of the corresponding one of the three vertically directed dispensing openings,

and further illustrates, in phantom, the fact that another merchandise article is in the act of being collected and fed either into a position for later replacement of the upper article shown in full lines in FIG. 9 after completion of one dispensing operationor into a position behind tions shown in FIG. 10, which effectively comprises a sectional view taken substantially on the plane indicated by the arrows 10- 10 of FIG. 7, at which time the lowermost one of the merchandise articles of FIG. 9 moves over a lower dispensing aperture in the bottom transverse plate so that said bottom merchandise article of FIGS. 9

' and 10 can drop downwardly therethrough into the conventional dispensing chute means of the merchandise vending machine, as is shown in the act of occurring in FIG. 10. At this time, the upper merchandise article of both FIGS. 9 and 10 is locked and held so as to prevent it from also being dispensed in the same manner as the lower merchandise article, by the operation of the spring biased locking bar means which moves inwardly thereagainst and locks the upper merchandise article until it is moved out of vertical alignment with the lower dispensing aperture in the bottom transverse wall.

Generally speaking, the novel non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus of the present invention is adapted to be mounted in any of several different types of vending machines, one exemplary type of which is generally designated at 11 in FIG. 1 and which includes an upper transparent merchandise receptacle, indicated generally at 12, and a. lower mechanism housing portion, indicated generally at 13, which houses most of the interior mechanism of the vending machine including the coin receiving means, the merchandise dispensing chute means, and Various other conventional elements.

It will be noted that the merchandiserecptacle 12 has a top closure cover 14 which is normally controllably removably fastened by a key-operated look member 15 to the upper end of a centrally positioned vertical tie rod 16, which passes through a central aperture in a central upstanding boss 28 on the transverse wall 23, and which is rigidly threadedly fastened to a lower or bottom wall portion carried at the bottom of the lower mechanism housing portion 13 of the vending machine 11, thus firmly but controllably disengagea' bly vertically fasteningtogether all portions of the vending machine 11.

In certain instances, a lower inwardly directed edge portion 12E of the merchandise receptacle 12 is fastened by downwardly directed fastening screw means 17 to an underlying top wall portion 1.3T of the lower vending machine mechanism housing 13 (usually with intervening compressible gasket means positioned therebetween for sealing and vibration minimizing purposes) with an outer circular edge portion 18 of an opening-defining ring means, generally designated at 19, being also firmly fastened by said fastening screws 17 and having an inwardly centrally downwardly inclined conical portion 21 terminating in an annular, downwardly directed portion 22 which effectively defines a substantially cylindrical, centrallyv positioned, downwardly directed opening through the complete opening-defining ring means 19. In the example illustrated, said ring means 19 is made of molded polypropylene plastic material which is particularly advantageous because of its elastic and wear-resistant qualities. However, it may be made of various other suitable materials.

In the exemplary form illustrated, the upper portion 13U of the mechanism carrying housing 13 may be said to effectively have a substantially centrally located downwardly directed recess provided with a substantially transverse bottom wall; said downwardly directed recess being generally indicated at R and said substantially transverse bottom wall being indicated at 23.

It will be noted that the above-mentioned bottom wall 23 has a frontally positioned dispensing aperture 24 in effective communication with the upper end of an. underlying dispensing chute means which is of a conventional type as found in conventional vending machines and which terminates in a lower merchandise receiving cup or recess 26 normally covered by a hinged closure door 27 and which canbe controllably opened to remove a merchandise article which has been dispensed through the dispensing aperture 24 and downwardly through the dispensing chute means 25 in a manner which will be described hereinafter.

It will be noted that, in the exemplary form illustrated, the above-mentioned transverse bottom wall 23 is effectively provided with the previously mentioned upwardly directed bearing or boss means 28 on the upper surface thereof and substantially centrally located thereon and adapted to rotatably receive thereon a substantially circular dispensing means, generally designated at 29, for rotation around the vertical axis of said boss 28 and also the vertical axis of the previously mentioned. centrally positioned tie rod 16.

It should be noted that said dispensing means, indicated generally at 29 and best shown'in FIG. 3, has a plurality (actually, three in the example illustrated) substantially vertically directed dispensing orifices 31 therein, circularly or circumferentially spaced from each other and provided with intervening (non-apertured) portions, such as generally designated at 32, which include upper closed top hollow portions 33 frontally positioned with respect to each of said three intervening portions generally designated at 32 (frontally meaning in the direction of rotation of the complete lower dispensing means 29) and which also include rear stepped lower hollow portions 34 positioned immediately behind each of the upper portions 33 of each of said three circumferentially spaced intervening portions, generally ina:

dicated at 32 of said lower dispensing means, generally designated at 29. g

It should also be noted that driving means is provided for rotating said dispensing means, generally designated at 29, in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 7, and in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 6. In the exemplary form illustrated, said driving means is generally designated at 35 and is best shown in FIG. 5, wherein it comprises a spur gear 36 carried by a manually rotatable shaft 37; said spur gear 36 being in engagement with a ring gear 38 circumferentially carried around the lower bottom edge of said previously mentioned lower dispensing means generally designated at 29 for rotating same in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 7 and in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 6 whenever said shaft 37 is rotated in a clockwise direction by an operating handle 39, carried at the frontof the vending machine 11 as shown in FIG. 1. This driving rotation is of limited and predetermined extent under the control of the coin-receiving mechanism, generally designated at 41 in FIG. 1, since said coin-receiving mechanism 41 only allows the handle 39 to be rotated such a predetermined distance, upon receipt of the proper coin or plurality of coins, for one dispensing operation of the vending machine 11. This predetermined extent of rotation of the handle 39 is such as to rotate the lower dispensing means, generally designated at 29, 120 degrees upon each rotary operation of the handle 39, thus placing each of the three previously mentioned dispensing orifices 31 successively in superimposed alignedrelationship with respect to the previously mentioned underlying dispensing aperture 24. In each case, this will resemble the showing of FIG. 5 and will result in a dispensing operation. I

Thenovel apparatus'ofthe present invention also includes a non-jamming merchandise, agitator and collector, such as is generally designated by the reference numeral 42, and as is perhaps best shown in FIG; 2, which is mounted in superimposed rigid relationship with respect to the previously mentioned lower dispensing means, gen- 6 erally designated at 29, so as to be rotatably movable therewith upon each rotary operation of the handle 39, as permitted by the coin-receiving mechanism 41 of the vending machine.

It will be noted that said non-jamming merchandise agitator and collector means 42 has, when effectively mounted within the previously mentioned ring means 19,

' a pluralityofvertically directed openings 43 therein circularly or circumferentially spaced apart and defined by separating non-apertured portions, such as generally designated at 44, and as perhaps best shown in FIG. 2.

It will be noted that, in the. example illustrated there are three such vertically directed dispensing openings 43 positioned similarly and insuperi'mposed relationship with respect to the previously mentioned three dispensing orifices 31in the lower dispensing means generally designated at 29. However, it should be noted that while the front edge, such as. shown at 45, of each of said separating portions 44 of the agitator and collector means 42, is adapted to be vertically, aligned with the rear edge of each of said lower dispensing orifices 31', such is not true with respect to the rear edge, such as indicated at 46 of each of said separating portions 44 of said agitator and collector means 42 In other words, each of. said rear edges 46 is notvertically aligned with the front edge of the corresponding lower dispensing orifice 31, :but is positioned forwardly thereof and, in fact, is actually aligned with the rear edge of each of the stepped upper portions 33 of the intervening portions 32 of said lower dispensing means, designated generally at 29.

Thus, it may be said that each of the three dispensing openings 43 defined between the separating portions 44 of the upper agitator and collector means 42 is arcuately longer and extends forwardly to a greater extent than the corresponding underlying orifice 31 of the lower dispensing means generally designated at 29. This is to make it possible for the non-round articles of merchandise 47 to eitherdrop into any of the deep openings defined by vertically alignedupper dispensing openings 43 and lower dispensing orifices 31 (the depth of each of the three such deep openings being such as to allow two such articles of merchandise 47 to be.vertically received in stacked relationshipntherein) or to allow only a single article of merchandise 47 to be, received within the upper dispensing opening 43 in a manner such as to rest upon the lower stepped shoulder portion 34 of the corresponding one of the three intervening portions generally designated at 32 of the lower dispensing means generally designated at 29. This facilitates collecting, prestacking, and final appropriate dispensing of the merchandise articles 47.

It will be noted that the upper agitator and collector 42 is effectively fastened with-respect to the lower dis: pensing means 29 by a plurality of locating pins 48 which are adapted .to be received in corresponding recesses 49. This prevents any relative rotation occurring between said upper agitator and collector 42 and said lower dispensing means 29. Additionally, they are firmly fastened together by a peened over retaining lip 51 which is peened unitary construction,

It should be noted that the separting portions, generally designated at 44, of the upper agitator and collector 42, each effectively comprises an inclined wedge member having a base portion 53 at the bottom thereof, the substantially vertically upstanding rear wall portion 46 thereof, and an inclined front portion 54'thereof which is downwardly divergingly inclined with respect to the upstanding rear portion 46 thereof and downwardly forwardly inclined in the previously mentioned direction of rotation thereof in the vending machine 11, which comprises a counterclockwise direction of rotation, as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 7, and a clockwise direction of rotation thereof as viewed in FIG. 6.

It should be noted that the top of the agitator and collector 42 has an upwardly conically converging surface 55, and this, together with the forwardly downwardly inclined wedge shaped separating portions 44 thereof, are of a configuration such as to allow same to rotate freely within a plurality of the non-round articles 47 which are to be dispensed and which are norm-ally carried in the merchandise receptacle 12, in a completely non-jamming manner. In other words, any time any slight tendency to jamming even develops, it will be noted that the merchandise articlewill merely rise up and over the inclined front face 54 of the corresponding wedge shaped separating portion 44, and no such jarnming will develop. This is further facilitated by reason of the fact that the complete agitator and collector, generally designated at 42, is preferably made of a resilient materia1, -such as molded polypropylene plastic, for example, although various other suitable materials may be employed in lieu thereof.

It should be noted that the previously mentioned ring means 19 is provided with a spring biased locking bar means 56 which is of curved arcuate shape and'which has fastened to opposite hook portions 57 thereof tension spring means, such as indicated at 58, which may extend completely around the exterior of the wall portion 22 of said ring means 19 or which may extend only a short distance-in each case and be fastened to fastening means 59, as is most clearly indicated in FIG. 6. The locking bar means 56 is mounted in a slot 61 which extends through an arcuate front portion of said wall 22 of said ring means 19 overlying the previously mentioned lower dispensing aperture 24 in the transverse bottom wall 23 of the recess R, and the arrangement is such that whenever a pair of vertically superimposed merchandise articles 47 are'rotated into the front dispensing position overlying said lower dispensing aperture 24, such as is clearly shown'in FIG. 10, the upper one of said merchandise articles 47 is firmly held and locked by said locking bar means 56 in a manner which will prevent it from being dispensed. However, the lower merchandise article 47 is allowed to be dispensed by falling downwardly through the dispensing orifice 31 and the underlying dispensing aperture 24 into the dispensing chute 25. It will also be noted that the curved inner arcuate edge 62 of said locking bar 56 is such as to allow relative rotary movement of the locked merchandise article 47 with respect thereto so that the complete rotary assembly can be rotated from the locked position shown in FIG. into the next counterclockwise position beyond the lower dispensing aperture 24, such as shown in FIG. 8, during which rotating movement the locking bar means 56 will effectively release the upper merchandise article 47 from its previously locked engagement therewith.

As the rotary assembly, comprising the upper agitator and collector 42 and the lower dispensing means 29, rotates successively 120 degrees through each of the three succeeding positions, it will be noted that the upper agitator and collector 42 acts in a completely non-jamming manner to collect., feed, and prestack the articles of merchandise 47 so as to normally have a pair thereof stacked in a manner such as clearly indicated in FIG. 9 for repetition of the dispensing operation with respect to the lower article 47 and the temporary locking operation with respect to the upper merchandise article 47 shown in FIG. 10 and previously described. Also, during this rotating and merchandise article collecting operation of the rotary assembly, an additional article of merchandise 47 may tend to lie upon the frontally positioned stepped shoulder 34, and this may subsequently become either the upper or lower of thepair of stacked articles, such as shown in solid lines in FIG. 9, at some point during the rotation of said rotary assembly.

It should be understood'that the figures and the specific description thereof set forth in this application are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specific structure shown in the figures and specifically described hereinbefore. Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantially equivalent constructions embodying the basic teachings and inventive concept of the present invention.

I claim: v

1. A non-jamming agitating and dispensing apparatus for merchandise articles carried within a merchandise receptacle of a merchandise vending machine, comprising: a housing having a downwardly directed recess provided with a substantially transverse bottom wall portion, said bottom wall portion including a dispensing apertu-re adapted to be in'communication with a dispensing chute means of a conventional merchandise vending machine, said bottom wall portion being provided with an upwardly directed bearing means on the upper surface thereof; dispensing means located in said recess rotatably mounted on said bearing means, said dispensing means having a plurality of substantially vertically directed dispensingorifices therein circularly spaced from each other and provided with intervening non-apertured portions; driving means for rotating said dispensing means to bring said dispensing orifices into successive alignment with said dispensing aperture; a non-jamming merchandise agitator and collector in superimposed relationship with respect to said dispensing means and rotatably movable therewith as a unit, said agitator and collector having a plurality of vertically directed dispensing openings therein circularly spaced apart and provided with separating non-apertured portions, said plurality of vertically directed dispensing openings of said agitator and collector being in vertical communication with the corresponding vertically directed dispensing orifices ofsaid underlying dispensing means and said plurality of separating portions of said agitator and collector being positioned in vertically overlying relationship with respect to the corresponding intervening portions of said underlying dispensing means, said separating portions of said agitator and collector comprising inclined wedge members each having a base portion at the bottom thereof a substantially vertically upstanding rear wall portion thereof and a substantially downwardly divergingly inclined front portion thereof extending downwardly and forwardly in the direction of rotation'of said agitator and collector provided by driving operation of said driving means for rotating said dispensing means and said agitator and collector, said intervening portions of said dispensing means being horizontally stepped and each having a front upper portion adapted to immediately underlie the corresponding separating portion of said upper agitator and collector means and each having a lower portion positioned immediately behind said upstanding rear wall portion of said inclined wedge comprising said corresponding separating portion of said upper agitator and collector means and lying at a level substantially lower than said front upper stepped portion.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including spring biased locking bar means normally spring biased radially inwardly into a position extending into one of said dispensing openings where it overlies the corresponding dispensing orifice and is vertically superimposed in vertical alignment over said dispensing aperture in said bottom wall portion for temporarily immobilizing and holding an upper positioned merchandise item while allowing a lower positioned merchandise item to be dispensed through the aligned dispensing orifice and dispensing aperture.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including spring biased locking bar means positioned above the level of said stepped lower portions of said intervening portions of said dispensing means and normally spring biased radially inwardly into a position overlying the corresponding pensed through the aligned dispensing orifice and dispensing aperture.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said dispensing openings is of arcuate configuration and is substantially longer in an arcuate direction than the corresponding underlying dispensing orifice of said underlying dispensing means and is positioned thereover with the rear edges thereof in substantial vertical alignment.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including common vertical fastener means eifectively fastening said agitator and collector means in said superimposed relationship over said dispensing means. I

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said agitator and collector is made of resilient readily elastically deflectable molded plastic material to further enhance the non-jamming characteristics thereof.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said agitator and collector and said dispensing means are made of resilient readily elastically deflect-able molded plastic material to further enhance the non-jamming characteristics thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 534,361 2/1895 Courtney 2212'65 X 1,798,654 3/1931 Brown 221264 2,553,095 5/1951 Jones 221265 2,621,096 12/ 1952 Broyles et al 221265 X 2,630,245 3/1953 Maier 221264 2,684,782 7/1954 Lime et a1 221203 X 2,930,509 3/1960 Hall 221265 2,990,976 7/1961 Fultz 221265 3,128,011 4/1964 Bleiman 22168 3,198,402 8/1965 Hunt et al 221265 X SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A NON-JAMMING AGITATING AND DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR MERCHANDISE ARTICLES CARRIED WITHIN A MERCHANDISE RECEPTACLE OF A MERCHANDISE VENDING MACHINE, COMPRISING: A HOUSING HAVING A DOWNWARDLY DIRECTED RECESS PROVIDED WITH A SUBSTANTIALLY TRANSVERSE BOTTOM WALL PORTION, SAID BOTTOM WALL PORTION INCLUDING A DISPENSING APERTURE ADAPTED TO BE IN COMMUNICATION WITH A DISPENSING CHUTE MEANS OF CONVENTIONAL MERCHANDISE VENDING MACHINE, SAID BOTTOM WALL PORTION BEING PROVIDED WITH AN UPWARDLY DIRECTED BEARING MEANS ON THE UPPER SURFACE THEREOF; DISPENSING MEANS LOCATED IN SAID RECESS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BEARING MEANS, SAID DISPENSING MEANS HAVING A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY DIRECTED DISPENSING ORIFICES THEREIN CIRCULARLY SPACED FROM EACH OTHER AND PROVIDED WITH INTERVENING NON-APERTURED PORTIONS; DRIVING MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID DISPENSING MEANS TO BRING SAID DISPENSING ORIFICES INTO SUCCESSIVE ALIGNMLENT WITH SAID DISPENSING APERTURE; A NON-JAMMING MERCHANDISE AGIATOR AND COLLECTOR IN SUPERIMPOSED RELATIONSHIP WITH RESPECT TO SAID DISPENSING MEANS AND ROTATABLY MOVABLE THEREWITH AS A UNIT, SAID AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR HAVING A PLURALITY OF VERTICALLY DIRECTED DISPENSING O PENINGS THEREIN CIRCULARLY SPACED APART AND PROVIDED WITH SEPARATING NON-APERTURED PORTIONS, SAID PLURALITY OF VERTICALLY DIRECTED DISPENSING OPENINGS OF SAID AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR BEING IN VERTICAL COMMUNICATION WITH THE CORRESPONDING VERTICALLY DIRECTED DISPENSING ORIFICES OF SAID UNDERLYING DISPENSING MEANS AND SAID PLURALITY OF SEPARATING PORTIONS OF SAID AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR BEING POSITIONED IN VERTICALLY OVERLYING RELATIONSHIP WITH RESPECT TO THE CORRESPONDING INTERVENING PORTIONS OF SAID UNDERLYING DISPENSING MEANS, SAID SEPARATING PORTIONS OF SAID AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR COMPRISING INCLINED WEDGE MEMBERS EACH HAVING A BASE PORTION AT THE BOTTOM THEREOF A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY UPSTANDING REAR WALL PORTION THEREOF AND A SUBSTANTIALLY DOWNWARDLY DIVERGINGLY INCLINED FRONT PORTION THEREOF EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND FORWARDLY IN THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION OF SAID AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR PROVIDED BY DRIVING OPERATION OF SAID DRIVING MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID DISPENSING MEANS AND SAID AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR, SAID INTERVENING PORTIONS OF SAID DISPENSING MEANS BEING HORIZONTALLY STEPPED AND EACH HAVING A FRONT UPPER PORTION ADAPTED TO IMMEDIATELY UNDERLIE THE CORRESPONDING SEPARATING PORTION OF SAID UPPER AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR MEANS AND EACH HAVING A LOWER PORTION POSITIONED IMMEDIATELY BEHIND SAID UPSTANDING REAR WALL PORTION OF SAID INCLINED WEDGE COMPRISING SAID CORRESPONDING SEPARATING PORTION OF SAID UPPER AGITATOR AND COLLECTOR MEANS AND LYING AT A LEVEL SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER THAN SAID FRONT UPPER STEPPED PORTION. 